Henry David Thoreau's Philosophical Ideas
Henry David Thoreau is famous as one of the greatest living AmericanTranscendentalist authors of the 19th century. Unlike Ralph Waldo Emerson,Thoreau is famous for putting Emerson's Transcendentalist principles ofself-reliance into action. Self-reliance and an immediate, humanexperience of nature and the natural world as spiritually beneficial weresome of the core ideals of both the movement and of Thoreau's own personal One of the reasons Thoreau embarked upon his famous experiment ofliving in the woods, was to prove to himself that even in an increasinglycomplex industrial society such as the newly formed rail-road crossed, post-industrialized America, one was still able to live with one's hands.Thoreau advocated a simpler life, boiled down to life's most basicnecessities and based upon the rhythms of daily life rather than therhythms of commerce. Rather than mediating one's spirituality t
He believedpassionately in the equality of all human beings, regardless of race andcreed. Rather than accepting what society told him was true aboutindividuals of other races; Thoreau sought to find that truth through themedium of lived experience and within his consciousness and set of personalconvictions. The self-reliance this experiencetaught him did not only make him better able to live in the natural world. Thoreau lived alone in Walden, Massachusetts, while he was penninghis thoughts about living in the area. Rather, nature was something that mustbe preserved for it's own sake and benefit. Unlike many of his Transcendentalist colleagues, Thoreau did notbelieve in gazing at nature with a hazy, sentimental eye of mereappreciation. Thoreau died of bronchitis, buthis legacy lives on, not only in his writings as with so many of hisliterary contemporaries such as Emerson, but also in the lived experienceof the man's biography itself. These obstacles began early in his life, includingthe death of his own son, John Jr. It also made him willing to disregard the conventional wisdom of hissociety, and of the accepted laws and morals of his society, in the truestunfettered Transcendentalist tradition. Thoreaubelieved that nature was not something to be preserved to help farmers andthose whose lives depended upon it. Rather, he believed in acknowledging nature's power, beauty,and also occasionally terrible and cruel behavior with respect. Although Thoreau passionatelybelieved in the importance of a non-structured spiritual and independentrelationship with nature for the benefit of the human soul, he believedthis was only one aspect of the need for what we today would call'environmentalism' and environmental preservation. Thoreau stands as an example that if one isto be a political and social activist for environmental and racial justice,one must not simply speak, one must act as well. For instance, Thoreau was anardent abolitionist, long before the cause became fashionable.
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